Reader Rants and Raves

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Reader Rants and Raves

Critiques and praise.

re: Gone

Evan Ratliff's tale in our December issue recounting his attempt to live on the lam prompted some breezy reader critiques: Ratliff should have stayed offline, carried more cash, and worked harder to change his appearance. Wrote one commenter: "Put a pebble in your shoe to alter your walk and apply chemicals to your skin that age it." (Ouch!) But one reader told us how it's really done — because he had walked in Ratliff's (pebble-free) shoes. To escape a stalker, he changed phone numbers and bank accounts and created a trail of faux bread crumbs pointing to Canada. "Now I am confident that I could be dropped anywhere and survive. Things are tight, but I am good." We're impressed. Sympathetic and very, very impressed.

Lost and Found

A smile was plastered across my face this morning as I ignored my fellow human beings on public transportation to read about Evan Ratliff's disappearance ("Vanish," issue 17.12). I wanted to participate in the hunt but knew my tracking skills would be no match for the techie masses.

__Barb Donovan

Pacific Beach, California__

Serendipity

Often, to make the best possible magazine cover, we scout locations, hire models, and even build custom sets. But not every image has to be created from scratch. Consider this shot of a mostly empty beach, which graced the front of our December issue. Wired creative director Scott Dadich discovered the image on a photography Web site last year and decided to use it to illustrate Evan Ratliff's tale of flight, disappearance, and isolation. The artist? Jose Javier Serrano, a graphic designer from San Sebastián, Spain. Chance really does favor the prepared eye.

This was more entertaining than some novels I've read lately.

Excerpted from a comment posted on Wired.com by NED23

What was the point of "Vanish"? To show that if someone continues to use a computer, social networking sites, and cell phones, they're easy to find? Thanks for the news flash. It's actually easy to disappear in the digital age. Just ask the leader of a certain well-known terrorist organization.

__Charlie Griffin

Encinitas, California__

Yes, Ratliff could have holed up in Northern Canada without being caught, but that wasn't the point. The real question is, can you reinvent yourself in this digital age by giving up everything from a previous life? To me, it seems like the answer to that question is yes. Ratliff was caught, but that's because he had legions of people following him.

Excerpted from a comment posted on Wired.com by AIPEURSSON

I cried while reading this article, even though I already knew the outcome of the chase. I've always thought of escaping, just giving up, but now if I had to leave my life behind, I think I might go crazy or kill myself. Thank you.

Excerpted from a comment posted on Wired.com by VACHI

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Pandora's Boxes

Great to see James Cameron back in Wired, this time for his movie Avatar ("Second Coming," issue 17.12). I'm wondering, though: Why aren't special effects getting cheaper? Budgets of blockbusters now reach $200 million. In the '80s, when special effects became more prevalent, they were available only to the Camerons and Spielbergs. Decades later, it seems they're still available only to the Camerons and Spielbergs.

__Mitchell Hall

Sydney, Australia__

As hard disk storage gets cheaper and CPUs get faster, movie studios push to do more with more. Star Wars had fewer than 400 f/x shots; Avatar has nearly 3,000. That translates to circuitry-melting render farms and $200 million production budgets. — Erik Malinowski, associate research editor

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Letters from prison.

Hard Times

We get letters. These days, most of them arrive over email. So when something is delivered by the US Postal Service — particularly if it's handwritten — we pretty much know it's from prison. This month, inmate Eric Urscher wrote to us from the Northwest Florida Reception Center in Chipley, Florida, to complain that wardens were withholding copies of Wired. He's not the first prisoner to see his reading material impounded: Last year, several correctional facilities rejected an issue of Wired that contained a story about inmates using cell phones to commit crimes. And copies of our October issue — with the cover line "purge the prisons" — were returned to us still in their poly bags. "We're the victims here," Urscher wrote, urging us to pursue the matter in court. In the meantime, Mr. Urscher, we hope this magazine reaches you safely.

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Math Lesson

"Sign of the Times" (Start, issue 17.12) describes the Halting Problem as a situation where computers "hang on one line of code and fail to move on to the next, and no one can reliably predict when that will happen." Uh, no. That is a problem with software hanging, but it's not the Halting Problem. Here's a concise description from the PlanetMath Web site: "The halting problem is to determine, given a particular input to a particular computer program, whether the program will terminate after a finite number of steps." The new notation sure is pretty, though.

__John Gross

Toronto, Ontario__

You're right. Math is hard! — Ed.

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Climate change debate heats up.

Hot Topic

We can add climate change to the list of subjects that prompt a flood of mail. Spencer Reiss' essay "Rising Tide" (issue 17.12) argued that we can adapt to inevitable climate change. On our Web site, readers vigorously debated the causes of and solutions to global warming, and they flung around some real zingers: "Instead of trying to frighten the rest of us, wouldn't it be nice if the overpopulation alarmists put their beliefs into action and offed themselves?" Another reader called a global warming doubter "idiotic": "It's you, some guy on the Internet, against every reputable scientist in the world." Other highlights:

Spencer Reiss' perspective came at a great time for me. I was becoming really bummed about the threat of a stalemate in Washington, the threat of carbon, temperature rise, water rise, and so on ... argh! I was forgetting never to abandon hope. This article was the kick in the butt I needed.

__Joe Kubinec

Hollywood, Maryland__

This article is breathtaking in its callous disregard for the effects of climate change on less developed nations. You really think Bangladesh can afford a Holland-style water barrier over its entire coastline? "Rising Tide" is a disgrace.

Excerpted from a comment posted on Wired.com by AXEL000

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Don't Take Your Medicine

Suggesting that patients ingest medications that are past their expiration date (Mr. Know-It-All, Start, issue 17.12) is reckless. Even meds that have been stored properly can be dangerous once they expire. Popping an old tetracycline pill, for example, can cause dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, extreme weakness, and bone pain. When you're facing hospitalization and kidney damage, ask yourself: Is saving four bucks on a new pack of antibiotics worth the risk?

__Zara Risoldi Cochrane, PharmD

Omaha, Nebraska__

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Wrong approach?

Test Case

The Archimedes computer model for medical studies is a worthy concept but the wrong approach to virtual trials ("The Body Synthetic," issue 17.12). An open source alternative, developed as a collaboration between academia and government agencies, would evolve faster and possess the necessary transparency. We can't afford to entrust public safety to a "black box."